Prepare: Without a cross there can never be a crown.
Read: Luke 18:31-43
Two children were walking along a road playing a game. One said to the other, "when you're walking along the road, do you ever pretend that there is something terrible just around the next corner waiting for you; and you've got to go and face it?" Many a man is capable of heroic action on the spur of the moment; a man shows supreme courage to go on to face something which haunts him for days ahead, and which by turning back, he could escape.
Jesus never spoke of the Cross without referring also to the Resurrection. He knew that shame lay before Him, but He was equally certain that glory also lay before Him. It was in the certainty of ultimate victory that He faced the apparent defeat of the Cross.
The blind man refused to be silent and restrained. The word used for the shouts of the blind man is quite different in verse 39 from 38. In verse 38 the word describes an ordinary loud shout to attract attention. In verse 39, the word is used to describe the instinctive shout of ungovernable emotion, a scream, an almost animal cry. His sense of need drove him relentlessly into the presence of Jesus. It is not just a gentle, sentimental longing that really taps the power of God; but the passionate, intense desire of the very depths of the human heart will never be disappointed.
Respond: For Jesus, it was always more important to act than to talk and that's why He is still one of the most heroic figures of all time.
Read: Luke 18:31-43
Two children were walking along a road playing a game. One said to the other, "when you're walking along the road, do you ever pretend that there is something terrible just around the next corner waiting for you; and you've got to go and face it?" Many a man is capable of heroic action on the spur of the moment; a man shows supreme courage to go on to face something which haunts him for days ahead, and which by turning back, he could escape.
Jesus never spoke of the Cross without referring also to the Resurrection. He knew that shame lay before Him, but He was equally certain that glory also lay before Him. It was in the certainty of ultimate victory that He faced the apparent defeat of the Cross.
The blind man refused to be silent and restrained. The word used for the shouts of the blind man is quite different in verse 39 from 38. In verse 38 the word describes an ordinary loud shout to attract attention. In verse 39, the word is used to describe the instinctive shout of ungovernable emotion, a scream, an almost animal cry. His sense of need drove him relentlessly into the presence of Jesus. It is not just a gentle, sentimental longing that really taps the power of God; but the passionate, intense desire of the very depths of the human heart will never be disappointed.
Respond: For Jesus, it was always more important to act than to talk and that's why He is still one of the most heroic figures of all time.
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